First Bible Lesson: Mark 1:6
"And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey."
Second Bible Lesson: 1 Corinthians 8:13
"Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend."
Golden Text: Matthew 11:18
"For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil."
Brethren, that is our lesson for today. There are many things which you look at as being strange and there are things which you think cannot be, but I am telling you that everything has already been. We are those who were in the past generations. I want to tell you the right way of life for the children of God in this New Kingdom. When you hear that God instructed Adam and Eve to eat only fruits many people regard this as a very foolish statement.
Even today in this Kingdom, some people in the Brotherhood world regard the abstinence from meat as a very strange language and as a foolish statement. Whenever they see one who does not eat any flesh they feel that he has brought a strange teaching. They will want to know if you are sick. I am now asking you this question: which of these two persons is strange -- the one who eats meat and drinks wine or the one who does not eat meat nor drink wine? Who is the insane person of the two? Who is the foolish person between them? Who is the disobedient child between them? Who works according to the flesh? Who works according to the spirit?
It is the person who does not eat nor drink wine who walks according to the spirit. If you see someone who eats and drinks, he is walking in the flesh and that is the strange doctrine because it is what has never been before. Adam and Eve who were driven out of the Garden of Eden did not even eat meat nor did they drink wine. For the 930 years which Adam lived he neither ate meat nor drank wine, he lived on fruits alone. You who eat and drink wine today, how long do you live?
God does not say that man should not eat food but he says that your food should be fruits. Before John the Baptist was born it was prophesied that his food will consist of locust bean and honey; and that was how he lived. (Matt 3:4). John lived on fruits and he did not eat meat nor drank any wine; that is why you are told to live on fruits. John did not eat meat or fish, he did not eat fofo or yams. He ate what was prescribed to him by God. But what is the matter with you of the present generation?
If you live on beans, groundnuts, maize, bananas or any other fruit you are walking in the spirit because that is what God commanded as food for man. There is nothing which God has made in vain. If you look around you will find different types of fruits and if you pluck these, eat and drink water you have obeyed God, and you are walking according to the spirit. We are not dealing with fasting but we are talking about fruits which God instructs that we should eat and they are found around us in abundance. Everything is by experimentation. Try this gospel and see if you will not have health and life in abundance just as did Adam and John. We are now going back to the Garden of Eden and this has been the prevailing condition. It is what you are eating now that is a strange way of life. The meats and fishes you eat were not known to Adam. If Adam hears that people are eating meat today it will sound strange to him; but if he finds someone living on fruits he will acknowledge such as his offspring.
For forty years the Israelites did not eat meat or fish nor did they drink any wine; they were fed with manna and they were very strong and healthy. You are not told that they died of eating manna but they died through committing fornication and murmuring against God. It was not for the sake of food that they perished because food does not commend us to God, neither are we made worse in his eyes if we do not eat. There are many ways of preparing cassava for food. You can eat the boiled and fermented one, you can drink gari, they are all food. You can eat sugarcane, oranges and bananas and you become very strong. Are these not enough?
The people of the world refer to us as the church that eats banana and groundnuts but they are the laughing stock; we are precious things in the sight of God. It is said: "walk in the spirit and you will not satisfy the lusts of the flesh." (Gal 5:16). Who is he that walks in the spirit? Who is he that walks in the flesh? The injunction of God is that "every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." It is the person who keeps to this instruction that walks in the spirit. Who is the person that has peace? Who is the wisest man? It is he who eats fruits.
Brethren you can see where the wisdom of this world has landed you. Right now, if you see somebody who lives on fruits, you will think that he is not sane. Your foreparents Adam and Eve lived on fruits. I want to tell you that money is a new thing. European diets are the strange things and these are the things that kill you. The sicknesses which you have in America and London have no treatment. All these are as a result of what they eat.
Right now, when we talk about this great Kingdom of God, you will conclude that the Israelites are lost. Israel is not lost because they live on fruits. All the meat you fry and eat are not known to them. Their belief is that when Jesus comes no person will know His Father or Mother and so if you go from here to them with this gospel, they will readily follow you. They have already been living on fruits and so no teaching is strange to them. That is how they will take back this Kingdom from you and you will go away empty handed.
If you go to other parts of the world, a lot of people do not know what it means to eat meat, they only live on fruits. When we talk about returning to the Garden of Eden, we are referring to this gospel. You will ask why God has commanded that man should eat only fruits. Fruit is the flesh of God. Fruit is the blood of God. It can be compared to a yam tuber. You cut off the head for the next planting and eat the rest of the yam. The trees that you find around are human beings. All the animals, fishes and birds are human beings. God knows this but, He will not put it to you in that way. He knows that these are Himself and that is why He says that you should eat only the fruits. If you eat only fruits which are always coming in seasons, then, there will be no more deaths nor sickness because we have hearkened to the instruction of God.
The word of God says that whoever considers himself wise according to this world's standard should regard himself as a fool in order that he may become wise. (1 Cor 3:18). If we start to live on fruits, we will no longer cut down trees, kill animals and fishes and birds and death will be gone. It is said that man and beast dwelt together. Since God has instructed that we should eat only fruits, you should realize that animals are your brothers. In the beginning there was no sickness, no pain, and no death because there was no killing on the side of man and beast of one another for food.
I have told you that when a native doctor asks you to bring a cock you should understand that he is asking for a man. If he asks you to bring a cock and a hen, it means that he requires a man and a woman. The moment you kill the two fowls, you should know that two people have died somewhere. I do not say that they will die but the condition is that the moment you cut off the heads of these animals, people have died somewhere depending on the number of animals you have killed. This is so because the animals are all human beings. That is why we pray and administer treatment and the person still dies because either the fowl or goat or fish or bird has already been killed.
When you shoot a bird and it dies, a human being has died at that same instant. When you cut down trees as many human beings as the trees you have cut have died because the trees are all human beings. Sometimes you find a very big tree in your village falling down, it means that the person is dead. I have the authority to teach you every secret thing because it was written that when he, the spirit of truth, comes, he shall lead you to the wisdom of truth. Otherwise what would have been the reason for your knowing all these things? It is said that only the king knows the secrets of his kingdom. I do not tell you what are in this kingdom because you are not worthy to know them yet.
You remember that when Christ was here He spoke in parables and without parables He would not speak because He did not wish that you should know. Now is the fullness of time for Him to reveal Himself openly to you. Do you not know that when you eat any meat you have eaten a human being? When you eat fish you have eaten man. You say that you have never committed murder but have you not killed an animal, a fish or a bird? You say that you have never eaten a human being but have you never eaten a goat or hen or bird? What about the cow meat you eat; are they not human beings? Have you not eaten human flesh?
I am not telling you to take this gospel to the people of this world. If you tell the people of the world not to eat fish or meat, it is like placing your precious thing before the swine. I do not say that you should not give this gospel to your brethren because it is said that whoever knows what is good to do and does not do it, to him it is sin. A lot of people have gone far in eating meat because they came to meet their fathers eating meat. But they are not opportune to know what Adam did and so you should take this gospel to them.
You should know that whoever is joined to the Lord is one spirit with the Lord but whoever is joined to the flesh is one spirit with the flesh. Right now that you are eating meat and other flesh, do you not see how you are behaving as animals? There is no reason in you and you go about behaving as you like. These animals you have eaten rise up and wage war with you in the spirit. They take court action against you before the Father of you all; you are found guilty and when you complain that you did not know he was your brother, it is too late.
Many whites do not eat meat and you can hardly find where they kill animals but in your case, but for the grace of God that Brotherhood has started here, how would you be saved? The moment you eat meat you are covered with darkness and you are eluded of this wisdom. The moment you eat meat or fish you have poisoned yourself and the Holy Spirit cannot come near you. You have committed the worst sin. The reason that you have no blood in you is because of the meat and fish that you eat.
Do you know that fruit is the body and blood of the Son of God and when you eat these fruits, you have blood and life and spirit? You have a song which says "I cannot bow to whatever is made by human hands"; is this really true? Do you not bow to what is made by human hands? If you eat fruits that song belongs to you because fruit is not made by man. Fruit is God himself. That is His flesh and body and when you eat it, you have life.
When satan tempted Christ that if he is the son of God he should command these stones to become bread, Christ gave him an answer which many of you do not hear. Christ said, "it is written: "man shall not live by bread alone but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God". (Matt 4:4) I have told you that we have cause to glorify this God because if He did not want the world to be saved, there was no other way for man to be saved. Once He loves someone and wants to save him, He alone can save him because what He shuts none can open, and what He opens none can shut (Isa 22:22).
I used to wonder, why I did not eat meat or fish or fowl; and I could not find any answer. I am a born vegetarian. I have never been taught in a school. I have never read the Bible. There was no church in Biakpan and no church will preach that one should not eat meat. And so I was born; just like that. I tried to eat meat because I wondered how one could live without eating meat, and still I could not eat any meat. I am preaching myself. Right from childhood my food has consisted of maize, yam, beans and fruits alone. I do not know anything about fish and meat. And I am free. I am not telling you that I purposely did this in order to acquire power but I was just born like that with an abhorrence to eating meat and fish.
If God did not want to save the world, I would be eating up all these things and our mind today would be unfulfilled. But as it is, I do not eat these things because I was not born to eat them. These things are the enemies of God. You have heard that John the baptist neither ate nor drank. When I tell you about myself and how I live, you quickly put it into a song; that is why I should not go further. Let our first lesson be read.
First Bible Lesson: Mark 1:6
"And John was clothed with camel's hair, and a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey."
Brethren have you heard that? It was not the locust grasshopper that John ate but the locust bean which is a fruit. Those who went to Jerusalem saw the fruit, and so if you do not understand a foreign language, do not worry yourself. This foolishness started right from the time of Adam; and Abel did the same thing. Whether Abel understood or not but God can make and unmake and so nobody can argue with Him. Did Abel know that the sheep he tended were human beings. You heard our Lord Jesus Christ say that Peter should feed his lamb. (John 21:15). What is the lamb of God? They are human beings. The expression "lamb of God" refers to our Lord Jesus Christ and He is a man.
Today, you maintain that Cain killed Abel; this statement is true. This is only the effect of the matter and not the cause of the effect. It was Abel who killed himself just as Christ said that He gave His life for the sheep. If Abel did not offer the fattest sheep of his flock as sacrifice to God, nothing would have happened to him. In offering the sheep, he was offering his life. Can you see how fortunate this generation is in obtaining this wisdom of truth. When these things are written and circulated, those who are in the spirit will acknowledge that it is the truth. The day your eyes will be opened, you will come to realize that the foods you eat are poisonous to your body; and that human beings are animals, and animals are human beings. Fishes, birds, trees and all human beings.
It is written in the scriptures that "meats for the belly and the belly for meat but God shall destroy both of them". (1 Cor 6:13). What did our Lord Jesus Christ tell His disciples? Remember when they asked Him to eat, He told them that He had food to eat which they did not know (John 4:32). Being as foolish as we are today, they began to wonder who had brought Him food. They did not say it out but since He was a spirit, He knew their thoughts and so He told them that His food is to do the work of His Father and to complete it. This goes to confirm the answer He gave to satan that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God. Right now in this New Kingdom we live in the Spirit. The word is spirit. We live by the word and when you live by the word you are not hungry, thirsty or sick. At the fullness of time you shall all live by the word alone; you will not even have need for fruits any longer. When this happens you will not know and so you should not leave this place and start starving yourself to death.
The General Certificate of Examination (GCE) is divided into two, ordinary and advanced levels; and so if you are in the ordinary level continue to remain there. There is one of us who started living on fruits and he became as thin as a broomstick. That was why Christ said, I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth". (John 16:13).
A good and experienced teacher cannot take university readings to the children in elementary one; such a teacher is insane. Similarly any teacher who is worth the name cannot take an elementary school topic to the university. Of what use is elementary school teaching in the university? That has been your problem. When you leave here you will tell whoever you meet not to eat meat or fish again not minding if he has done the rudimentary gospels as yet. That is why you often meet with failure in your preaching. This is exactly the kind of thing done by the Unity Society. Their big men live on mushrooms and do not eat meat but they are free to marry as many wives. Do you not see that they have overstepped the main thing? What is the point not eating meat when you have married as many as ten wives? Christ told his disciples: "In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you". (John 14:2). Every one of you should listen to his spirit because we are in different stages and categories. Do not rush to become a vegetarian. If you have not forsaken fornication, lying, theft and anger be patient. Gradually you will leave these sins one after the other and until you refrain from eating meat you will not know. Rome was not built in a day.
We are passing through different stages in our journey. When you get to the stage where you neither thirst nor hunger then you have reached the end of the journey. Spirit does not eat nor drink. The spirit does not eat meat. Whatever spirit asks for water to drink is elementary spirit. The Holy Spirit does not require drink or child or any carnal thing. It is the flesh that looks for these things. Food does not make you good in the least. If you do not eat, you are not made worse. Food has no business in this Kingdom.
Why John could not eat nor drink was that he came with the power and spirit of Elijah; and since he was filled with the spirit he had no problem. You should not go and imitate him. If you do not possess that spirit and you go to be like John, whatever happens to you in the process you are responsible. Even now, we have people who are imbued with the spirit of Elijah and they neither thirst nor hunger. That was why Christ always ended his sermons by saying "he who has ears to hear, let him hear." And so if you are one of those who cannot feel hungry or thirsty, do not think that anything has befallen you.
I am thankful to the Father for leading someone who has never been to school, someone who had never been preached to, someone who has never read the bible and has never been to any church, and yet the Holy Spirit leads him in this wonderful way unto the accurate wisdom of the truth. It is a thing of great joy to both men and angels. This goes to fulfill what was written: "When the comforter shall come": it does not say when the comforter graduates from school. When he shall come, he will lead you to the accurate wisdom of the truth. Many things have happened here which you are not aware of; things which have never been. To raise the dead and heal the blind are old things, and so they are not wonders. But there is something which is very new and wonderful here but you have not seen it.
Removing of charms from ones body is an old thing. It is no miracle. For one to go to school up to the doctorate level is not a new thing, it is a very old thing. For one to kill a man or goat or fowl and eat is not a new thing, it is a very old thing. To be angry and abusive is no miracle. The very new thing today which has never been is the new heavens and the new earth where only righteousness dwells. (2 Peter 3:13).
John went and studied in the university because his father was the High Priest. This apart, he went to church and his parents were both serving in the temple. That was why when the angel announced to them the coming of John, they believed him. That was why John was accepted when he came. If Jesus did not attend any other school, his sitting with the teachers of the law at the age of twelve in Jerusalem was something. (Luke 2:46). In his infancy he was taken to the altar for blessing and so Simeon was his master. (Luke 2:34). Apart from that, he was baptized by John and that was why the disciples of John told him that the person he baptized was also baptizing people. (John 3:26) They regarded Jesus as his servant and that alone showed John was his master. But here is a man whose fame cannot be attributed to any man or school and yet all other spirits are under his subjection. Where has he derived his wisdom? Every doctrine in this world has got a source but where does this teaching come from?
Have you heard any person claiming that he taught me anything or that we learnt together or did anything together? By now my master or the brother to my master would come out to identify with me. Have you read of it in the books? That is why I tell you that something new and strange has happened here. Jesus says; "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth." (John 16:12-13). The statement does not say whether he will come from the sky or from the university, he will just come suddenly unexpectedly to guide into all truth. He has also said that "the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." (John 14:26). Have you ever been told by any person that the fish is a human being or that the tree is a human being or that animals are human beings and as such you are not to kill any of them? Sometimes you are suffering from hypertension and somebody will advise you not to eat fish or drink wine so that your sickness may be over. He will advise you to eat vegetables and plantains. Even though he says this, he does not know the underlying principle in this. I have told you not to commit fornication. The amount of blood which you give out at the one moment that you go and fornicate is enough to last you for fifty years. The life force which you spend is like petrol which can be used in driving a car for a period of one year. Can you tell me why your life span should not be shortened when you go about fornicating?
Until today, the blind and foolish person continues to ask: What evil is there in fornication? If there was nothing evil in fornication, would God advise you to refrain from it? God created the fire and instructed that you should not put your hands inside the fire otherwise it will burn you. But you go ahead and put your hand into the fire and get burnt; who has the blame? Similarly, you are advised not to commit fornication, that when you commit fornication you are loosing a lot of blood; if you go ahead and fornicate and die, the blame is on you.
It is said that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. (Ps. 111:10). Your body is the temple of God (1 Cor 3:16) even though you say that man is not God. If you were to have the reverence of God in you would you go about injecting black powder into your body? You drink this and that and use your body anyhow. Are you not afraid to defile the temple of God? The wine that you drink have been mixed and treated with various chemicals, when you drink this into your body you have adulterated the body of Christ. The local palm-wine is treated with certain barks of trees and this in itself is poisonous, and after drinking you still want to know what evil there is in drinking wine? Do not see any evil in it; but know that the child that does not hear its mother's voice, will hear it in the pot of soup.
When you go to the hospital the doctor will tell you that you are suffering from diabetes, you should be given eggs and this and that. All these things are poison to your body. Meat is not good for you. Fish is not good for you. If you want to hear it, hear; if you do not want to hear, leave it. If you eat meat you are not walking in the spirit. God said: "which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat" (Gen 1:29) I have given every green herb for meat. If you walk in the spirit you will comply with this instruction. But if you are in the flesh you will continue to eat meat and fish until you land in a pot of soup where you will learn your lesson.
Today we have not another gospel to preach to you other than that meat and fish or any other flesh is not good for your body. They adulterate your body. Eating of meat and fish is a very strange thing. The tradition is fruits because Adam ate fruits and lived for 930 years. Since they left the path of God people do not know what obtained. The original thing was to eat of the fruit of the trees and if you keep to this instruction, you have obeyed the voice of God but when you refuse, you have rejected the instruction of God. It is better to listen to the voice of God than to the voice of man. Let our second lesson be read. Listen attentively you Thomases and Debaters. I do not preach this kind of gospel on the television because they have not yet done the elementary part of the gospel and so there is no need giving this advanced stuff to them.
2nd Lesson: 1 Corinthians 8: 13
"Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend."
You eaters of meat have you heard that? I want you to go home with this word and think seriously over it. Is it not because of meat that you quarrel with your brothers? Is it not because of meat that the Holy Spirit leaves you? Is it not because of meat that you disobey the voice of God? Of what use are you? When somebody steals a fowl, what is he going to do with it? He is going to eat it and he has erred. After you have killed all the goats and fowls the next thing is for you to kill man for meat.
Many of you complain that you found yourself eating meat in the dream; do you not know that when you kill any animal and eat it you have eaten meat in the dream? Whatever is bound on earth is also bound in heaven. (Matt 18:18). That is why you are told that if you eat meat you have no share in this New Kingdom. Meat does no good to you. It does not give you health or life; there is nothing good in meat. Why then do you persist in eating meat? No doubt if I was eating meat, I would not speak this way; I would be praising how sweet and delicious it tastes and how useful it is to the body. Since I have never tasted it, no matter how you extol meat you are wasting your time because I cannot be convinced since I have never eaten it.
Through eating of meat you have killed a man, you have killed the spirit, you have become defiled, you have disobeyed the voice of God. You have no life in you and have no share in this Kingdom of God. What then is your gain in eating meat? You may argue that you have never heard of any person who does not eat meat but I am telling you that Adam did not eat meat. John the Baptist did not eat meat. He lived on locust bean and wild honey and he was healthy and strong and he was not sick. I am not saying that meat is not good or that it is good; but I know that it is good for one to listen to the voice of God rather than man. That is the point of my argument.
The word of God says that meat does not commend us unto God, neither if we do not eat are we worse off in his right. Why is it that meat cannot place you in a good standing before God and you go and make your brother to fall through eating it and you yourself perish in the end? What do you gain? I am not telling you to refrain from eating meat today or tomorrow; but I am laying everything bare before you just as it was written that when he comes he will lead you to the accurate wisdom of the truth.
Meat is not a taboo to me. If you cook food for me with meat in it I will eat the food very well because if I tell you that I do not eat meat you will begin to imagine that there is the source of my power. No person knows my way. That is the difference between me and others. And so if you see me eating meat and for this reason you go and eat some, you will fall alone. Genesis 1:29 says that your food should consist of fruits. If you walk in the Spirit you must listen to His voice because right now we are back into the Garden of Eden.
When somebody drowns in the water, his corpse will be food for the fishes; and when a man dies in the forest, the beasts will tear him and eat. When you eat the fish and animals, are you not eating human flesh? Many people say that they cannot eat pork and others say that it is very delicious. The man who was possessed with demons where did he plead that Christ should send them into? Was it not into the pigs? (Mark 5:9-13). When you extol pork meat and continue to eat it, do you not realize that you are taking into yourself all those evil spirits? Can you not see how you are being possessed by these evil spirits today?
You who say that the dog meat is very delicious what is the food of dogs? Does it not feed on feces? And when you claim that you cannot eat feces, what actually do you eat when you eat dog meat and pork? I am not disgracing you but I am telling you the facts. Goats, sheep and cows and all the things created by God eat leaves. But you say that you cannot eat leaves because you are not an animal. When you eat these animals are you not eating leaves? Because that is their food. Upon all your wisdom you did not know that.
Heaven and earth shall pass away but no jot of the word of God will pass away until they are all fulfilled. (Matt 5:18). You have heard that from the beginning every herb bearing seed and every tree in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed and every green herb shall be your food; but you belittle yourself by going to eat animals who themselves feed on green herbs and that is why you behave like animals and even the animals are wiser than you. The whites have this saying; "Tell me your friend and I will tell you who you are." Tell me what you eat and I will tell you the spirit you possess.
Brethren, can you see what foolishness and ignorance have brought to you? God did not create man to worship the stone or trees; but because of going to eat meat, lawyers, doctors and important personalities fall down to the rock and pray for it to save them. Can you see how low you have condescended? I am not preaching against idolatry today. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." (Ex 20:3). Today we are talking about the first ordinance which God gave that we should keep; just as he said unto Adam: "eat of all the fruits of the trees in the garden except one" and Adam went and ate and fell. God says we should eat fruits alone and we are not to eat any other thing.
It is said today, when you hear his voice harden not your heart. (Heb 3:7-8 /4:7). Right now, you have caused your brother to fall; and the scripture says: "If meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world stand, lest I make my brother to offend." Why is it that you have offended your brother through eating meat? It is said that you should abstain from blood; how will you continue to eat meat and fail to eat blood. Whoever tells you not to take blood is indirectly telling you not to eat meat because the blood is the meat.
Remember the story of Shylock and Antonio. Shylock gave the condition of extracting a pound of flesh from Antonio if he failed to pay his debt. He meant to kill Antonio because he knew that Antonio had no money. When Antonio could not pay his debt, Shylock thought that he has reached his end. You heard what happened later. The lawyer which Antonio hired could not come and his wife disguised herself as a lawyer and went to court. She told Shylock to go ahead and cut his pound of flesh but not to spill any drop of blood. And so when you are told to eat meat and not to eat blood, tell me how you will eat meat without eating the blood?
Brethren, why are you so disobedient to the instruction of God? You pray that God should give you good health, a wife, children and money; but what about his instruction? He says that every herb bearing seed and every tree in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed and every green herb shall be your food. Can you not do this also? Do you not know that the leaves you find around give you blood? When you eat them you have blood and you become strong and healthy. You may claim that you have never read the Bible; today you have read it. It says that if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world stands, lest I make my brother to offend. Throughout his ministry Paul did not eat any flesh nor drink any wine, and you are not told that was the cause of his death. And he says that it is good neither to eat meat no drink wine or do anything which will cause your brother to fall.
Do you not see that if we stop eating meat and drinking wine there will be no more mourning house, all forms of trouble and confusion will cease because they are caused by eating meat and drinking wine. High courts, native counsels and fines will no longer exist because what they fine are goats and drinks. When we no longer eat meat and drink wine, what do they have to fine? If we no longer eat flesh we will not kill fowls and goats and birds and cows any longer; and there will be no more deaths since these creatures are no more killed. It means that death is taken away.
You remember how Moses wrought various signs in Egypt and what God did in the end when Pharaoh did not repent. In the end compare what God did with the case of Abel and his slaughtered sheep. God told them to kill "every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it". (Ex 12:3-8). They did this even though they did not understand what they did. The Egyptians were laughing at them wondering what has got into them. But in the morning all the first born sons of the Egyptians died. They represented the lambs which the Israelites killed in the night. What was the repercussion of their action? Of all those who came out of Egypt only two of them reached the promised land; that was the repercussion of the action.
It is said that though hand be joined to hand in prayer the wicked shall not go unpunished (Proverbs 11:21); as you kill the animal it means that you have killed a human being and you also have to be killed. And so you should not eat any meat again. You should eat only fruits as instructed by God. Because this is the time to wear our crown. We have no laws here and so meat and fish are not taboos to us but the fact remains that we do not eat meat or fish. If you do not belong to this tribe do not come in. Do not measure yourself into doing it when it is not given to you to do it. Those to whom this gospel belongs know themselves.
I am thankful to the Father because in Lagos Zone and in Arbor very many brothers are vegetarians; but not here at the headquarters. Here you would want to know why the Leader instructs that you should not eat meat. Since you cannot see anything wrong with eating flesh you continue eating and drinking. Very many people who have not yet come into Brotherhood are practicing vegetarianism. They are mainly little children and they do not know why they cannot eat flesh. It is the spirit, and this is the fullness of time. We should all live on fruits and no person should kill goats or fowls or birds or fishes any longer so that every creature may enjoy this kingdom equally.
Golden Text: Matthew 11:18
"For John came neither eating nor drinking and they say, he hath a devil".
It was once rumoured that the Leader does not eat food and people concluded that that was the source of my power. They will ask you what does your Leader eat and when you tell them that He does not eat, they will claim that is the source of His power. Today I have not told you not to eat. We are talking about the eating of meat and fish and that you should refrain from these. John did not eat any flesh; that was why Jesus said that of all men born of women there has not risen any which is greater than John. (Matt 11:11).
You have heard that when He the spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak; and he will shew you things to come. (John 16:13). Have I ever preached anything on my own? I always refer you to various portions of the scriptures. Paul said that Christ did not send him to baptize, but to preach the gospel, (1 Cor 1:17) not with wisdom of works, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. If you preach with your knowledge and according to your understanding, it means that you have made Christ of none effect.
Many churches have a chain of rules which they impose on themselves. They have so many do's and don'ts and even have it that a woman should not enter the church or certain areas of the temple during her menstruation. Where do you find these in the Bible? Who formed the menstrual cycle, was it not God? Just as the Jews blamed our Lord Jesus Christ that His disciples were eating with unwashed hands; He replied them that it was not what goes into a man that defiles him but what comes out of him. (Mark 7:15). They blame Brotherhood for eating bananas and groundnuts in the church; but ours is no church. This is the Pentecostal Hall. You are the church of God.
They blame Brotherhood for worshipping a man instead of Jesus; but if we are worshipping man, Jesus Himself is a man. Here we practice the word of God. If you hear the word of God and put it into practice, it means that you have obeyed the voice of God and that is what God requires. He says "I am the way, the truth and the life; no man comes unto the Father except by me." (John 14:6). Right now none of you knows the way. Here you are being shown the way. If you do not keep these words, how will you be saved? The word of God says that you should not bow before any other God; but they put on earrings and worship the stones and they believe in witchcraft; and yet they claim to be worshipping the real God.
You have now heard it that John ate and drank nothing all his life. If you try it by starting to eat fruits and by practicing the instructions of God, you will find yourself getting younger and fresher everyday. You do not have any pains again; because all these things are caused by disobedience. Right now you have no flour, no engines, you import everything from overseas; but around you are the food you should eat. Plant maize, pears, oranges, pineapples, mangoes, bananas, groundnuts and all fruits. You are not responsible for their growth. God gives the increase; and these are what you should eat.
You say that you cannot bow to any man-made thing. What about the bread and cakes and the other things you eat, are they not man-made things? Do you know what is used in preparing them? That is not what I am talking about but I am telling you that John drank no wine and ate no meat throughout his life; and he was not sick or worse off for it. He is the person who has shown the way to all the inhabitants of the world. He was sent by God for this purpose and without which the world would have perished. John came and revealed our Lord Jesus Christ and Christ carried out the assignment of shedding His blood for the forgiveness of sins and to re-unite us with God.
Since John ate and drank nothing, they said that he had a devil. Jesus came and ate and drank and they said that he was a lover of wine and a friend of sinners. There is nothing you will do that the world will not find accusation against it. Do not think that when you do not eat meat nor drink wine that you are good in the sight of men. They will laugh at you and call you names and they will say that it is because of the charm that you possess. When John lived without eating meat and drinking wine, people said that it was a difficult way of life. And so our Lord Jesus Christ came eating and drinking and He was called a lover of wine and a friend of sinners. But His good deeds revealed Him. That was why Christ gathered a lot of followers, and Paul did the same. So that you may be inexcusable, upon all things, people continue to be hard-hearted and disobedient.
Brethren, I do not want to take you further than this. One stroke of the cane is sufficient unto the wise. He who has ears to hear let him hear. May God bless His words. Amen.
REFERENCE: SERMON DELIVERED BY THE HOLY FATHER, LEADER O.O.OBU, THE SOLE SPIRITUAL HEAD OF THE UNIVERSE WEDNESDAY MORNING, 27TH AUGUST, 1986 on: VEGETARIANISM
From:- The Vegetarian Fellowship Handbook. Vols. I & II Pages: 22-48.
[Home] [Gospel Explorer] [Anthology Explorer] [Vegetarianism]